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AI-Assisted Geospatial Reporting for Research Infrastructure

Planning & Decision-making · Research & Development

What it collects that can identify you

Sensitive personal information
Identifiable data
  • Scientist registry data identifying individual researchers by name, affiliation, and publication record across Canada.

Also collects operational data and about a place, which is anonymized data.

Run by
Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC)
Where
No fixed location
Kept
Not stated by the Helpful Places.
Shared with
Accountable organization
Your copy
You cannot see the data it holds about you. What you can do

What it is for

Planning & Decision-makingResearch & Development

SciMap is a geospatial reporting tool that uses AI to clean data and generate insights about research facilities, scientists, and publications across Canada. It is used by Government of Canada employees to support partnership brokering and investment decisions. The system involves personal information about scientists, and AI use is disclosed to users.

What it collects and what happens to it

Data taken in

Operational data
Anonymized data
  • Research facility datasets, publication metadata, and open government data sources describing Canadian research infrastructure — schedules, locations, and institutional records not tied to a specific individual.
Sensitive personal information
Identifiable data
  • Scientist registry data identifying individual researchers by name, affiliation, and publication record across Canada.
About a place
Anonymized data
  • Geospatial location data for research facilities across Canada, used to produce maps and regional analyses.

Processing

Classification & Prediction
  • The Gemini AI model classifies and compares datasets — matching records across sources, flagging inconsistencies, and categorizing research entities for downstream reporting.
Language Models
  • Google Gemini, accessed via the Power BI platform, is used to process natural language queries, generate report text, and power chatbot support interfaces.

What it does

Deciding (Analytical AI)
Human decides
  • The AI scores, classifies, and compares datasets (research facilities, scientists, publications) to surface patterns and insights for GC employees who then make investment and partnership decisions.
Creating (Generative AI)
Human decides
  • The system includes report generation and chatbot interfaces (being explored) where the AI produces new text-based content — summaries, reports, and conversational responses — reviewed by GC employees before acting on them.

Outputs

About a place
Anonymized data
  • Geospatial visualizations and maps showing the distribution of research facilities and scientific activity across Canada.
Generated content
Anonymized data
  • AI-generated reports, summaries, and chatbot responses about research infrastructure, used by GC employees for investment and partnership decisions.
A recommendation or prediction
Anonymized data
  • Decision support outputs — comparative analyses, ranked options, and investment recommendations — surfaced to GC employees who retain authority over final decisions.

Run by

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC)
  • The Government of Canada department responsible for deploying SciMap to support research facility tracking, partnership brokering, and investment decision-making by GC employees.

Government of Canada AI Register — SciMap

Built by

Microsoft
  • Microsoft provides the underlying AI platform (Gemini model via Power BI) and cloud infrastructure (SharePoint/Laboratories Canada) on which SciMap is built and hosted.

Government of Canada AI Register — SciMap

Kept for

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Shared with

Available to the accountable organization
  • Outputs and processed data are available to GC employees within Public Services and Procurement Canada and Laboratories Canada via the internal SharePoint platform.
Not available to me
  • Members of the public and individuals whose data may be in the system (e.g. scientists in the registry) do not have direct access to query or download outputs from the system.

Stored

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

How to read the colours

Can it identify you?

Anonymized data
Data about people with the link to who is broken. Stripped of identifiers, blurred, aggregated, or noised so this system can’t reasonably tie a record back to an individual.
Pseudonymous data
Each person’s data is tied to a token (hash, ID, template) that lets this system recognise the same person across events, but the token itself doesn’t reveal a name. Reidentification is possible with extra information.
Identifiable data
The data either contains a direct identifier (name, address, account name, recognisable face or voice, plate number) or carries a token this system uses to look up legal identity during processing.

Who completes the loop?

Human decides
This mode suggests; a person decides what to do next. The AI is always advisory — a human is in the loop on every decision. Example: a triage tool ranks cases for a clinician who chooses which to see first.
Human executes
This mode decides; a person carries out the result. Example: an optimizer plans the day’s trash-collection routes, and drivers run them.
Autonomous
This mode decides and acts on its own. No person reviews each decision or carries out the resulting action.

Definitions from the DTPR standard. Amber is about your data, violet about who decides. The fuller the shape and the deeper the colour, the more identifying the data or the less a person is involved.

What you can do

Ask about this system

Questions go to the Helpful Places, not the vendor.

Your rights

  • Right to Be Informed of AI UseAI use is disclosed to users of the SciMap system. GC employees interacting with the tool are informed that AI (Gemini model) is in use for data cleaning, comparison, and report generation.
  • Right to Algorithmic TransparencyThe system is listed on the Government of Canada AI Register, providing public disclosure of the AI use case, capabilities, and data sources at a high level. Users of the system are informed of AI use.

Risks and safeguards

  • Reputational harmThe system tracks and profiles individual scientists by name and publication record; errors in AI data cleaning or dataset comparison could produce inaccurate profiles that misrepresent a researcher's affiliation, output, or expertise.Safeguard: the system is operated by GC employees who review AI outputs before acting on them; AI use is disclosed; the system is listed on the public AI register; the status is 'in development', implying ongoing review before full deployment.
  • Civil liberties harmThe profiling of scientists and their publications in a government-operated system creates a risk of chilling effects on research freedom if the tool were used beyond its stated scope of partnership brokering and investment.Safeguard: access is restricted to GC employees; the system is an internal planning tool, not a public-facing enforcement or adjudication system; AI use is disclosed; multiple use cases described as 'being explored' rather than deployed.